Child, Variant (3.5e Template)

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The knight errant's young squire, the child pupil of a wizard or druid, the prepubescent savage. Despite their difference of life style, they all have one thing in common. They are all young and inexperienced, and usually runs quite a few years short of adulthood. This template allows you to create a child character fairly easily. For information of how children with a character class are interpreted, please view the Children and Class Features section.

Most truly, the child template is neither acquired nor inherited. The template serves to tone down the base creature's strengths to a level more natural to that of a relatively inexperienced child. The best way of describing this template is as a way to create a character of level 0.

For all intents and purposes and regardless of the child's actual size, it is treated as being one size category smaller than its normal counterpart. Its type remains the same, although it gains a 'Child' subtype.

The actual Hit Dice of a child is half that of the base creature. For base creatures with only one Hit Die, the child gains a fractional ½ HD.

Note: A child of a base creature with only 1 HD that takes up a class with good base attack progression, like a fighter, still has a BAB of +0, since it possesses half a Hit Die and is, technically, 'level 0'.

The child gains a bonus (or loses a penalty) to AC in accordance to its smaller size. If the base creature has an innate natural armor bonus, it is halved and round down. The same goes for other such bonuses to AC, if applicable.

Example: A human child will have a +1 size bonus to AC. A troll child will have only a +2 natural armor bonus to AC.

The child retains his ability to use manufactured weapons, although they wield weapons corresponding to their size. They also retain any natural weapons of the base creature, their damage decreasing one step as per size. They gain a size bonus or lose a size penalty to attack.

The child retains all special attacks of the base creature. Special attacks that deal physical damage change according to size category, whereas damage from magical special attacks decreases one die step (d6's become d4's, etc.). The DC of any special attack decreases due to the loss of HD. The range and duration of all of a child's special attacks halves.

A child with fractional racial Hit Dice gains a number of skill points equal to double the number of skill points that its class would normally bestow upon each level. Such a child may have a maximum of 2 ranks in any class skill, and a maximum of 1 rank in any cross-class skill. A child with 1 or more racial Hit Dice gains skill points normally, although if such a child has taken up a class, the last Hit Die of racial skill points is replaced by the skill points of the class level.

Example: A human child fighter with Int 10 has a total of 3×2 = 6 skill points available, and may invest a maximum of 2 ranks in a class skill and 1 rank in a cross class skill. When this child reaches adulthood, he will have Int 12 and a total of 4×4 = 16 skill points.

Example: A troll child without a class gains a number of racial skill points equal to 6×(2 + Int mod), rounded down. If that same troll child would be a ranger, it instead gains 5×(2 + Int mod) plus (6 + Int mod) skill points.

A child gains a number of character feats according to its HD to a minimum of 1 (even with ½ HD). A child does not normally gain bonus feats due to class, and gains only racial bonus feats. For this purpose, a human's extra bonus feat at 1st level does not count as racial. Only the first feat may be a background feat.

Example: A human child has only one feat. He does not gain the extra bonus feat due to his being human. A troll child however has 3 racial Hit Dice, and therefore two feats.

A child can have a class same as his adult counterparts. Some might even become unusually skilled for their age and improve their skills before reaching adulthood. Savage children are taught how to hunt, druid children to respect the land. A wizard's pupil might know a few cantrips and, through diligent study, become more than just an innocent face. A fighter child knows how to handle a weapon and swing it. A monk child is brought up in a cloistered environment and knows the beginnings of enigmatic martial arts. A child bard knows how to perform. Children can do the same things as their adult counterparts, but are usually slightly less experienced and skilled at it. This section gives some pointers as to integrate class features into your child build.

When a child's class bestows any sort of general weapon proficiency (i.e. simple or martial), he may instead pick two weapons of each category he is proficient in that he can wield without penalty. A child may not pick any weapons that count as two-handed for its base creature's appropriate size category. A child automatically gains all specific weapon proficiencies from its class (such as a druid's proficiency with a scimitar, or a monk's proficiency with a kama.

A child gains all armor and shield proficiencies that its class bestows, except for proficiency with heavy armor and tower shields.

A child that has a spellcasting class gains only the benefit of cantrips (0 level spells). They gain half the number of cantrips that a 1st level spellcaster of their class would be granted, rounded down. A child sorcerer for instance knows and can cast 2 cantrips per day. at half caster level

A child has access to a number of class features that his class normally bestows at 1st level. Class features that contain special attacks that do damage decrease their damage die by one step (for example, a child rogue's sneak attack and a child monk's unarmed strike only do 1d4 damage). Class features that bestow enhancement or morale bonuses have these bonuses halved (a barbarian's rage for example will only grant a +2 bonus to Strength and Constitution and a +1 morale bonus to Will saves). Class features that bestow temporary penalties are unchanged.

A child gains only 1st level class features that comply with at least one of the following criteria:

The class feature associates with a certain Skill (using a skill check to perform a special task). Examples of this are, but do not limit to, a ranger's Track and Wild Empathy, a bard's bardic music and bardic knowledge, a rogue's trapfinding, etc.